About

This website was created as a supplement to Why Treaties Matter - Self Government in the Dakota and Ojibwe Nations, a travelling exhibit on treaties between Dakota and Ojibwe people and the U.S.. The project is a collaboration of the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council, the Minnesota Humanities Center, and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian. The 15-minute video presented above, produced by the National Museum of the American Indian, introduces the themes of the exhibit: that tribal government's exercise indigenous sovereignty today, and that indigenous sovereignty was not given in treaties, but retained in treaties.

This project is funded in part with money from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund that was created with a vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008, and The Patrick and Aimee Butler Family Foundation.

Video Interviews:

Stanley Crooks, Chairman, Shakopee Mdewakanton Dakota Community

Kevin Jensvold, Chairman, Upper Sioux Dakota Community

Floyd Jourdain, Chairman, Red Lake Nation

Kevin Leecy, Chairman, Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe

Erma Vizenor, Chairwoman, White Earth Nation

Thomas Barrett, Member, Red Lake Nation

Rose Berens, Member, Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe

Marie Chaboyea, Member, Red Lake Nation

Joseph LaGarde, Member, White Earth Nation

Andy Favorite, Member, White Earth Nation

Cody Goggleye, Member, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe

Fern Isham, Member, Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe

Vernon Jackson, Member, White Earth Nation

Sondra Keezer, Member, White Earth Nation

Joseph LaGarde, Member, White Earth Nation

William Robinson, Member, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe

Dallas Ross, Member, Upper Sioux Dakota Community

Tom Ross, Member, Upper Sioux Dakota Community

Carrie Shommer, Member, Upper Sioux Dakota Community

Quentin St. Clair, Member, White Earth Nation

Steven Stone, Member, White Earth Nation

Anton Treuer, Member, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe

Video footage produced by the National Museum of the American Indian, Allies: media/art, and In Progress.

Website concept by Tom Ross, member, Upper Sioux Dakota Community.

Research supported in part by the Indian Land Tenure Foundation.

Web design and construction by thisCLICKS Interactive.

Images used with permission of the Minnesota Historical Society, the Wisconsin Historical Society, the Minnesota Secretary of State, Macalester College, and Allies LLC.